Cailais
Amarr
THE ORDAINED
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Posted - 2010.08.17 21:28:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: CCP Warlock
To be clear, while we can advise game design on their scaling constraints, it's their responsibility to design the game. (Well, apart from providing them with the occasional - 'don't even think of doing that to the cluster' moment.)
The real challenge is always to design the system itself so that it will scale, and also to provide a good game experience. Ideally the constraints, there are always some, are essentially part of the game experience and accepted as such. So to answer your question, we certainly don't like the times when we have to actually enforce hard limits, even if realistically there's no immediate alternative.
For the short term we are concentrating on improving server and cluster performance, and fixing the long lag problem. Medium term will involve recruiting more cpu by going to multi-core servers. Longer term redesigning fleet fights to scale indefinitely by changing the game mechanics to allow the cluster to distribute load arbitrarily in them is what I would personally describe as an interesting problem. A very interesting problem, if the goal is also to still deliver a good experience.
I would think that closer collaboration with game design is fundamental. The issue of 'lag' in fleet battles is one which has close parallels with 'real world' military tactics. Command, Control and Communication nodes are often overwhelmed with incoming information - not all of which is critical, reliable or even relevant. Equally distributing commands outwards to sub units suffers from a similar problem; overloading the network, leaving sub units paralysed and without clear direction.
Whilst this problem has largely been overcome in the modern age (certainly since the introduction of radio) prior to this directions or orders to sub units were typically given in advance of a given operation and constraints and freedom of action equally pre planned. To a great extent that still happens today.
In terms of the 'bunching' of military force this is sometimes very desirable (often termed 'concentration of force') but that's not always the case and the ideology (if you can call it that) of manoeuvre warfare is now the norm - in essence allowing a numerically inferior force to defeat a numerically superior force without engaging in a battle of pure attrition.
Id be interested to know what studies Game Design have done in this respect.
C.
the hydrostatic capsule blog
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