Massively Multiplayer Game
Development (Game Development
Series) by Thor Alexander
Mmo Encyclopedia
Massively Multiplayer (MMP) game development is one of the fastest
growing areas in the game market. With the first MMP releases, the genre
took off with amazing speed, and as its popularity continues to soar, so do
the many challengesinternationalization, customer support, hacking, and
technological advancements. To keep up with these challenges,
developers need to implement the best tools and techniques available.
Massively Multiplayer Game Development provides these solutions. This
comprehensive, insightful collection of articles is written by some of the
industry’s best MMP developers, and provides a wealth of unique
knowledge acquired while working in the MMP trenches. Details on
database techniques and game systems are also included. Unlike many
programming books, Massively Multiplayer Game Development is intended
to appeal to the entire team: programmers will find a multitude of technical

ideas, and designers and producers will benefit from the detailed
information on design, architecture, and customer support. TOPIC
HIGHLIGHTS:
* MMP Design Techniques: provides a big picture design process and
includes valuable insights learned by the Toontown Online team, as well
as practical online customer support issues learned by the Ultima Online
team.
* MMP Architectures: features extensive coverage on applying object-
oriented and Extreme Programming practices for building robust MMP
frameworks and architectures.
* Server-Side Development: details the server side of online development,
including seamless server pros and cons, development and maintenance
issues, and wireless device porting tips.
* Client-Side Development: covers movement prediction, character
customization, and the challenges of console MMP games.
* Database Techniques: explores this black art that very few developers
have mastered. Covers the fundamentals of design and explains how and
how not to use databases for online games.
* Game Systems: addresses how to design the core game system that
powers MMP games.
* CD-ROM (Windows) includes demos and source code from the book in
C++, Python, and Shockwave Contributors!
Thor Alexander
Jason Asbarh
Jason Beardsley
Mark Brockington
William Dalton
David Fox
Tom Gambill
Mike Goslin
Ben Hanson
Todd Hayes

Dale Homburg (cover)
Christian Lange
Jay Lee
Glyph Lefkowitz
Paul McInnes
John M. Olsen
Sean O’Neil
Javier F. Otaegui
Jay Patterson
Patricia Pizer
Sean Riley
Artie Rogers
Paul Sage
Derek Sanderson
Jesse Schell
Joe Shochet
Matthew Walker SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Intel Pentium-Series,
AMD Athlon or newer processor recommended. Windows 95/98/ME/XP
with at least 32MB RAM for C++ demos. Linux and MacOs are supported
for cross-platform Python and Shockwave demos. 3D graphics card and
DirectX 8 or higher recommended for Graphics demos, and the latest
version of Shockwave.
Personal Review: Massively Multiplayer Game Development
(Game Development Series) by Thor Alexander
This book is exactly what I've been looking (and wishing) for!! I feel terrible
that I found it FIVE years after it's been out!
I'm a hobbyist game programmer, a senior in high school, and I've been
wanting to make my own MMOG since late middle school. Of course, back
then my vision was more... general, unrealistic, overenthusiastic. But over
these past few years, as I have matured and gained experience in
programming, I've been building up to the time when I had a clear view of

what I wanted and exactly how to get there, and especially how much work
would be involved. I've taught myself all about general game programming
using several other books, but the whole time my goal has been a MMO,
and while the books taught general game development, none of them
really mentioned how to develop on a 'massive' scale - even the books
concerning online games. Finally, I've found one that's not only focused on
MMOGs, but has exactly the information I want.
I have researched plenty books and websites, but this is a HUGE source of
information that I couldn't find anywhere else! Tips on how to organize
server farms, complete UML code explaining a full MMORPG framework,
tips on server and client development, etc. - just read the table of contents.
This book is out of print, but if you are looking to make a Massively
Multiplayer game, get your hands on it immediately!!
Another great aspect of the book is that at the end of each separate article,
there is a list of resources. It's like a bibliography of the articles that the
editor used to compile the article, including the original article itself and any
additional sources used. This referred me to several other great game
design books that I never would have considered.
If you have questions, like I had, about how to synchronize objects
between client and server, how to handle movement and collision
detection, how to design and implement the back-end database, how to
protect from 'rogue' players (commonly called 'hackers') and so on, this
book will answer all those questions and more.
I am writing this review from the perspective of both programmer and
designer (well, whole-game-maker, but I've got a couple friends so I
consider those my primary roles) - and the programmer will get a whole lot
out of this book. A designer will also get some great ideas, and I have not
yet read a lot of this book (especially the section meant for designers), so
I'm sure I'm underestimating.
A single warning though: You should already have a pretty clear vision of
what kind of game you want to make, and in the case of a programmer,
have a thorough understanding of the programming language, and all the
systems of a game - especially graphics and networking. The book
describes thoroughly all the processes but does not go into details about
how to form and transmit packets, so you'll have to look into that elsewhere
(read up on sockets, possibly the library RakNet, for more info).
Overall, this is a great book, and I would rate it higher if I could! I may even
consider getting MMGD 2 now that I've seen the high quality of this one!
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