Network Architecture Challenges of Multiplayer Games

Interactive fast-paced games that operate over networks present many challenges to game designers that want to present a fluid user experience. I recently stumbled on a paper written by J.M.P. van Waveren in 2006 that details the advancements in network architecture in Doom III over it’s predecessors such as Quake I, II, and III.

If you want some insight into the items that CCP has to consider when trying to maintain a cohesive grid for our ships to fight on, read the Abstract, Section 1, and Section 2. Further sections go into Doom III specific implementation of transmitting data between server-client.

J.M.P. van Waveren. “The DOOM III Network Architecture”. Id Software, Inc. 2006. [PDF]